A former middle school teacher imprisoned for a string of heinous sex offenses has allegedly been killed in prison.
Ernest Nichols, 60, worked as a gym teacher at Ranson Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina until he was arrested back in 2009. He faced a list of 27 charges including statutory rape of a person 13, 14, or 15; six counts of second-degree kidnapping, and four counts of second-degree forcible sex offense, among others.
Nichols was quickly suspended without pay by the school, and later banned from the grounds.
According to the New York Post, his 15-year-old victim – not a student at the school where he worked – said he raped her multiple times over a six-month period in 2008 after having impersonated his own son on social media platforms Facebook and MySpace.
The ex-teacher would also reportedly watch the teen engage in consensual sex with another male, while ordering her to tell people “she wanted” to have sex with him if anyone asked.
Prior to his arrest, the victim’s mom confronted Nichols and claimed he referred to himself as a “pig” during their encounter.
He was convicted of statutory rape in 2011, receiving a 15-year prison sentence for his crimes. Nichols was projected to be released in September, 2027, but it appears another inmate at Greene Correctional Institution in Maury, North Carolina had other plans.
As per reports, Nichols was found unresponsive in his cell at 6:50am local time Sunday, October 5, sending the prison into lockdown.
Staff are said to have performed life-saving procedures, but the 60-year-old was pronounced dead at 7:22am.
On Tuesday, October 7, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation revealed that another inmate at the facility, Wilbert Baldwin, 41, had been served a murder warrant over Nichols’ death.
Baldwin is serving a sentence for second degree murder in Richmond County. The inmate will continue serving his current sentence while Nichols’ murder is investigated.